《The Insatiable System》 001 - Memories When I woke up, I was in a place I didn¡¯t recognize. It was a dimly lit room, a subtle scent of herbs and incense floated in the air. I should¡¯ve been panicking, but I strangely wasn''t. Recognizing the warmth around my body I try to wriggle out of the grasp of the person holding me down. As I pull away, I see the person snuggling up to me slowly open her eyes. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± She asked, rubbing her sleepy eyes. She moved her long crimson hair to the side and with her slim but firm hand caressed my face. ¡°Did you have a nightmare?¡± She asked again. Even though I was panicking inside, I wasn¡¯t really sure what was happening, so I just nodded. ¡°Aww, it¡¯s okay, I¡¯m here. Don¡¯t worry.¡± I looked around the dimly lit room and then at myself and saw my little hands and fingers. Saying this she once again pulled me in her arms and patted my small head as she once again drifted to sleep. It was at this time memories started flooding in me. My name is Anshe, I don¡¯t have a last name, and I¡¯m the nine-year-old son of Eshreal, the peak master of the Shining Cauldron Peak of the Four Golden Magic Sect. It was a small third-rate magic sect that was established some years ago. There are four peaks and a main peak overseeing all of them called the central peak. We were currently on the Shining Cauldron Peak. This big sister snuggling with me was the direct student of my mom. Lily Chambers. Like the name of this peak would suggest, it mainly focuses on alchemy. Since my mother is always busy with other important stuff, Lily is always there to take care of me. I don¡¯t know how exactly I crossed over to this world from earth, if I crossed over, but I clearly remember that I was in a car accident right before I opened my eyes here. If I truly died there then this can be considered another chance at life. It wasn¡¯t all good though, I was a magical cripple here and almost everyone other than my mom and Lily here kept their distance from me. I wasn¡¯t really bullied or anything but that was only because I was the peak master¡¯s son. If it weren¡¯t for that, I don¡¯t even want to imagine what would¡¯ve happened. This will not be the case for long though. There will be an awakening ceremony soon for all the people who have not awakened their abilities and are of eligible age. There, I will be humiliated in front of everyone in the coming days, but I guess this situation still beats dying. Awakening an ability isn¡¯t an issue, it''s using it that¡¯s going to be a problem. You see, I am a very special case, my body refuses to handle any magic, I cannot focus any amount of magical energy. There are kids younger than me who have a better grasp of magic. It was a fact that I was going to get an ability in the ceremony but because every ability, no matter what kind, requires magic to be used is the reason I am called a cripple. Sighing, as I thought about my life here, I snuggled deeper into Lily¡¯s warm embrace. Might as well enjoy this, I will think about everything else in the morning. My thoughts had just started to calm down when suddenly I heard a beeping sound in my head. Ding! A sharp chime echoed inside my skull, sending a spike of pressure through my head. My vision flickered before blood-red text scrawled itself across my sight. [Initiating The Insatiable System¡­] [Broken magic root detected] [Magic stat detected to be 0] [Cannot initiate system¡­Error.] Stolen novel; please report. [Error.] [Error.] [Error.] [...Compromise found. Cancelling initiation bonus for forced Awakening.] I felt the presence of the invisible organ called the magic root for the first time. A slow natural healing flow slowly stretched out from there towards my whole body. [Magic +10] [Initialization Complete. Welcome to the Insatiable System!] [The Insatiable System demands more.] [More power. More strength. More of everything.] [You will rise or you will break.] [The Insatiable System Lv.0] [Host ¨C Anshe] [Physique - 4] [Magic - 10] (+10) [Control - 6] [Skill Points - 0] [System Abilities] [Innate Abilities] [Acquired Abilities - None] ¡®What the hell?¡¯ I looked at the floating screen before my eyes and my mind stopped working for a second. It felt like a videogame status screen. I looked at the top where it said . ¡®What a dangerous name¡­¡¯ I didn¡¯t even get a chance to properly look into my status, as the moment this screen appeared before my eyes, Lily had abruptly gotten up, her face filled with shock and all the sleep in her eyes was now gone. ¡°A-Anshe, y-y-you, why do I feel magic from you!? HOW!?¡± Um, how do I explain this to her? Still gotta respond to her, I can¡¯t keep staring into empty space looking at the status screen. As my eyes moved away from the status, understanding the meaning of my actions, the screen disappeared and I moved my eyes back to her. Gotta act confused now, can¡¯t risk telling her anything about this unless I myself understand it first. ¡°Magic¡­? I don¡¯t understand what you''re saying so suddenly big sis¡­ you know I can''t use magic¡­¡± I spoke. She was stunned seeing as I was also unaware. ¡°This.. we have to report to the peak mast- your mom, right now!¡± She motioned for me to get up, I was slow and also pretended to be reluctant but still obediently got up. She held my hand as she led me out of her personal quarters. The moment she touched my hands, I was also swarmed by the messages from the system, but I couldn¡¯t really check them now, so I ignored them. We moved from her quarters to the main residence on the Shining Cauldron Peak, the Shining Residence. My mom lived here, well I also technically lived here, but I was used to spending my nights either here or with Lily depending on who I was bothering that day, but it¡¯s mostly Lily. Although she is the top student of this peak, she is also my caretaker. Reaching the main entrance, we didn¡¯t even have to announce ourselves, as a calm but still laced with some worry, voice came. ¡°Come in.¡± The door opened on its own, and we walked in. Inside, I could see my mom come out of her study and before Lily could even explain what was going on, I felt wind as my vision blurred and I was now being held by my mom by the shoulders. Her eyes filled with shock and her voice shaking. ¡°A-Are my eyes deceiving me, Lily?¡± I could feel something warm coursing through my body checking every nook and cranny. My mom was moving her mana gently through me to check if what she was seeing was true. I was worried she would find something about the system or something but my worries were unfounded. [The system has been bound with the host¡¯s soul, it cannot be detected by anyone.] I mentally sighed in relief. Understanding her question, Lily answered with an excited voice. ¡°No, Master. It is as you see, I don''t know how it happened but I felt magic from his body so I immediately came here, it just happened so suddenly, even he didn''t understand!¡± My mom just hugged me and held me there for some time, I could hear her light sobbing voice. ¡°I''m glad, I''m so glad...¡± I thought I should say something for now. ¡°I can use magic now?¡± I asked in a calm voice. ¡°Yes, My son. It doesn''t matter what you awaken in a few days, you will also be a Mage!¡± I felt excitement, relief, and happiness all in her voice. ¡°Don''t worry mom, I will awaken an awesome ability and make you proud!¡± I replied with a smile. And as I did, I felt something in my mind untangle. The memories blurred together, my two lives bleeding into one. I could remember standing at a busy intersection, the cold of metal against my skin, and the blare of a loud horn before darkness. And yet, I also remembered soft hands, warm laughter, and a woman with the same eyes as mine calling me her son. Who am I? Am I Anshe? Or Am I¡­ what was my name again? At that moment, my past and present memories fused into one. I could recall everything I had experienced before¡­ except for who I had been. My head hurt¡­ but I exhaled. Did it matter? I am here now. I am Anshe. And Anshe is me. In this life, the woman in front of me is my family, seeing her happy is making me happy. I had seen the lengths she had gone to in order to heal me. I wouldn¡¯t ignore that. [Memory Synchronization complete.] [Spirit Strengthened. Magic +5] I chose to ignore the system messages, I was not going to ruin this moment. Separating from me, she had both me and Lily stay in the Shining Residence. Now that I had magic in my body, she wasn''t going to let me out of her sight till the official day came for my awakening. It''s going to be a fun few days. 002 - The System Lily yawned beside me as we walked toward my room in the Shining Residence. My mother, no doubt, was already making plans to train me first thing tomorrow. Sadly though, I have lost my sleep, so I decided to go through my status screen. ¡­ As I lay in bed staring at the floating screen in front of my eyes with bewilderment, I also couldn''t help but look at the sleeping log beside me who had somehow gone back to sleep despite everything that happened just now. I don''t know if I should be impressed or not. Ignoring her, I studied my status. [The Insatiable System - Lv.0] [Host ¨C Anshe] [Physique - 4] [Magic - 15] (+5) [Control - 6] [Skill Points - 0] [System Abilities] [Innate Abilities] [Acquired Abilities - None] There are some interesting things here, but still looking at such a name, I couldn''t help but get worried. Insatiable. Something that couldn''t be satisfied. Was something like this good to have? I don''t know. All I know is that it helped me. Let''s go from the top, looking at the system¡¯s level, being level 0 is not surprising as I just got this system. How much of an advantage the system¡¯s levels can give me I¡¯m not sure. The realms of power in this world come from training their magic root which is further aided by their innate abilities. Stimulating their magic roots by nourishing it with natural magical energy and raising its ranks allows them to command tremendous power. When someone becomes nine years old, they become eligible to awaken their innate ability. I am nine years old now, but I haven''t awakened my abilities naturally yet so I will be able to awaken my innate ability in the upcoming ceremony in a few days. I would''ve gotten an ability even if I was a magic cripple, the only defect this body of mine had was that I was not able to utilise mana. But that problem is now solved because of the system. I don''t know why I see two locked abilities in there though, I''ve never heard of anyone having more than one. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Now, although everyone gets their abilities, all abilities require magic to work, and since I couldn''t use magic previously, even if I had gotten my abilities, I wouldn''t have been able to use them due to the nature of my manaless body. Hence being called a cripple. Although no one called me this out in the open, this was what everyone in the sect knows me as. The faculty, the students, basically everyone with the exception of two people, that is. Not like I cared. Previously, even without my adult memories I didn''t care, so why should I now. I''m better than a child. Moving down, I looked at the three stats displayed, Physique, Magic and Control. They are exactly like they sound. Physique shows how strong and durable my body is and Magic shows the amount of magic I can handle and Control shows how well I can handle said magic and strength. Skill points I''m hoping I will earn on level ups. What they can be used for, I can only guess for now. Although the previous me couldn''t use magic, I had spent my time in books trying to learn and make myself a magic scholar or researcher. But finally being able to put that knowledge to use makes me really glad I got this system. Even before I got my previous life''s memories, I was already a lot more mature for my age. Lastly, let''s look at the skills. The only one I could look at now was the system ability. [Soul Bind] [Create a connection between the host and the target. As long as the connection is there any progress made by the target will also be passed to the host several fold. More benefits may be unlocked as the host levels up.] ¡°...what?¡± I rubbed my eyes a few times and read the description again and again. ¡°What a broken skill¡­¡± Although I said that, the smile on my face could no longer be hidden. I wanted to try it right away but the only person in here was Lily. And I didn''t want to experiment on Lily. What if this hurt her? Ding! [Answering Host - The process of Soul Bind is almost non-detectable. As long as there isn''t too much difference between the host and the target''s realms, there should be no issues in creating a bond. Also, the system would recommend using Soul Binding on allies as it can be beneficial for them.] Surprised that the system answered him, he asked again. ¡®How would that be beneficial? Nothing in the skill¡¯s description is showing that it is beneficial for anyone other than me.¡¯ [Host isn¡¯t worthy enough to receive an answer¡­ yet. Increase your authority. Demand More.] ¡®And how do I do that?¡¯ [The authority of the system is aligned with the growth of the Host, as the host grows, the host¡¯s authority grows.] I kinda figured it would be like this. There were nicer ways to say it though. Since the system said it would be beneficial later on, I chose to trust it and turned towards Lily who was still sleeping soundly without a care in the world. ¡°This girl¡­¡± Sighing. I activated my skill. Since touch was required I moved my hand towards her arm that was stretched towards me. [Suitable target for Soul Binding found, Lily Chambers. Establish connection? Yes/No] ¡°Yes.¡± I spoke quietly. All the conversation I had previously was in my mind, so I had to be quiet as I didn''t want her to get up. [Connection established with target - Lily Chambers] ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡°That''s it?¡± Although it may seem like nothing happened, I could clearly feel something like a thin string connecting me and her, I quickly opened my status to confirm. [Active Targets - Lily Chambers] ¡°Well, I hoped to get a skill as soon as the connection was established, but I guess I¡¯ll need to wait for her to make some progress before that happens. Work hard big sis.¡± Saying this with a light smile, and with nothing better to do than wait, I too drifted off to sleep. 003 - Hellish Training The next day started as any other¡­ is what I would like to say, but¡­ ¡°...Good morning¡­ Mom.¡± ¡°Good Morning An!¡± I saw the smiling face of my mother sitting beside my bed. I didn¡¯t see Lily in bed so she must¡¯ve left for her classes early. She had her dark brown hair tied up in a bun and she was wearing her glasses as I could see the bags under her eyes, she had not slept even a little. I didn¡¯t hear any sound of the door opening when she left or when mom entered, so who knows how long she had been sitting here. ¡°How long have you been sitting here?¡± I asked directly. ¡°Oh, not long. I just wanted to get started on your training quickly, we only have a week before the ceremony. We need to get you ready for the test too.¡± In this sect, just because you are a son of the peak master doesn¡¯t give you admission straight up. You still need to pass the entrance exams just like everyone else. Although I have been living in this place with my mom and Lily, that doesn¡¯t mean I am a student here. The moment I become a student, I will be given accommodations of my own and will have to move out of this residence as well. Because at that moment my identity as the peak master¡¯s son will be overshadowed with my identity as the disciple of Four Golden Magic Sect. ¡°I spent the whole night preparing a training plan for you! Get up quickly! After you¡¯re ready, get to the backyard, we¡¯ll begin. We need to beat the basics into your body to make up for all the lost time!¡± Saying this, she left the room, leaving me sighing this early in the morning. I used to consider myself lucky for not having my mom as my teacher, but I guess I¡¯ll finally learn why they call my mom the ¡°Demon Instructor¡±. I have seen Lily shudder in fear at times when I asked how her training with mom went. Seeing her like that, I had stopped asking. There is a reason my mom only has one student. All the other peak masters have multiple students besides the prime student that gets sent to the main peak. But my mom only has Lily, not because she didn¡¯t take any students, but because not many ¡°survived¡± learning under her. Almost all of her students have dropped out after a few weeks or sometimes even days. And that''s the funny thing, our peak, the Shining Cauldron Peak, has a lot of students as well as instructors, but only one core student, Lily. ¡°She won¡¯t be too harsh, right? I¡¯m her only son after all. And I¡¯m too adorable as well. That has to count for something!¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡­ A few hours later. I was wrong. She is a demon. She was standing in front of me with a wooden stick in her hand as I lay on the ground gasping for breath. I looked at the stick with bitterness in my eyes. That thing has been beating me senseless since this morning. ¡°You know, mom. When you said you were going to beat the basics into my body, I didn¡¯t think you were talking literally.¡± ¡°Of course I was talking literally! You think you are going to learn everything in a week if I were being nice?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone has ever complained about your teaching being too nice-¡± The rest of the words got stuck in my throat as she showed me a dangerous smile as she said, ¡°Looks like getting some magic has given you too much confidence, you even think you can now talk back to your mother. Looks like I need to beat some manners in your body as well.¡± ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry, mom! You¡¯re nice! You¡¯re the nicest mom there is!¡± I tried defending myself with flattery. All I got in return was a smile. Even colder than last time. ¡­ A few hours later. ¡°So, what did you learn?¡± ¡°Y-you should never talk back to you mom¡­¡± ¡°Good boy. Now go freshen up, and after a little break we will begin your magic training.¡± I wanted to cry but no tears came out. I wanted to say I was hurt all over, but she has been feeding me healing pills after each beating so I can¡¯t even say that I can¡¯t get up. Still it isn¡¯t like this session was worthless. [Novice Swordsmanship Lv.1 / 5] [Novice Footwork Lv.1 / 5] Two Novice skills and only level 1? [Answering Host - Skills not related to innate abilities have a higher threshold for acquisition and progress. The fact that the host was able to gain these two skills after just training for a day is a feat in and of itself.] ¡°Oh, so if I awaken a swordsmanship related ability during my awakening, then I¡¯ll need less proficiency to upgrade this skill?¡± [Answering Host - Correct. But similar acquired skills merge into their corresponding innate skill and innate skills do not have ascending levels. But they can be upgraded after they have been completely mastered.] Now I¡¯m really curious what kind of Ability I¡¯ll awaken. I hope it is something as cool as Mom¡¯s or Lily¡¯s. ¡­ As Eshreal finished up the morning training with her son, she was in a good mood. She looked out, seeing her son still lying there on the ground taking in the afternoon sun, she couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. ¡°Overdramatic brat.¡± This was probably the first proper bonding session she has had with her son. She knew she had gone a little too hard on him, but she also knew it was necessary. She might¡¯ve ignored his physical training all this time thinking he was going to become a magic scholar. But his awakening had changed a lot of things. And not all of them in a good way. Her carefree expression changed as she looked out at her son again but this time there was a little bit of pain in her look, as the smile she held vanished. Her fists tightened all on their own as she thought about what kind of ability her son might end up getting. If he, by some miracle or mistake, awakened one of their abilities, then who knows what his future might be like. She didn¡¯t want her son to go through the pain she had gone through. If possible she didn¡¯t want her son to meet those people ever in his life. A man''s face flashed in her mind, as she once again looked at her son, this time her eyes moistened with tears, as after a few seconds she finally looked away and left her son to rest. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t get our abilities my son¡­¡± 004 - Learning Magic ¡°Man, when will I get an ability from Lily? I hope she is not wasting her time while I''m getting beat up here¡­¡± After an hour of resting, my training began again, but thankfully it wasn¡¯t anything physical this time. ¡°An, what do you know about magic abilities?¡± I thought for a bit before answering. ¡°It is a way to manipulate magical energy or mana that exists all around us and in us.¡± ¡°Correct. And how would you differentiate Innate abilities and acquired abilities?¡± I knew all of this as the old me had been studying very diligently to become a magic scholar as I didn¡¯t have any magical ability. If things had been the same, I might''ve become a staff in this very magic sect in the future. But that didn¡¯t mean all that studying would be wasted now that I could manipulate magic, rather it would help me become even better as I would have a solid foundation in my studies. ¡°Innate abilities can be awakened by every single person after the age of nine. And acquired abilities can be learned by anyone as long as they can manipulate magic. Theoretically, although innate abilities are usually more complex than any acquired ability, anyone can learn it as long as they can understand the working behind it. Still no acquired ability can compare to a similar innate ability in terms of quality.¡± ¡°Good. But do you know why that is?¡± I shook my head, even though I had an idea why. Seeing as my acquired ability that I gained this morning, which was not related to my innate abilities, had a high proficiency requirement to progress, I could guess that it would take a lot more effort to learn something that was not related to the Innate ability. ¡°The difference is effort.¡± I guess I was right. Still, I asked further. ¡°Effort?¡± ¡°Yes. Let me give you an example. Do you know Lily¡¯s Innate Ability?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Advanced Rank , isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Correct. Now how long would you think it would take you to learn this simple Rank 1 skill that Lily took barely an hour to learn?¡± She asked, while flashing me a small red scroll she had taken out of thin air. ¡®I really want to learn to do that too¡­¡¯ [System sub-space can be unlocked at level 10.] ¡®Fuck yeah!¡¯ This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Coming back to the question, I replied hesitantly. ¡°A day?¡± She shook her head. ¡°If you didn¡¯t already have an understanding of magic theory it might¡¯ve taken you a few weeks, but because of your knowledge, it might take a couple of days at best, but it might still take you to the end of this week for you to learn at the worst.¡± ¡°What!? Isn¡¯t that too much?¡± She gave a light chuckle at my response, but nodded her head. ¡°This is why Innate abilities are unfair. By the way, when she learned this in an hour, she was barely trying, if she wanted she could''ve learned this in a few minutes.¡± ¡°Is she a genius or something?¡± What am I saying, just looking at her fire control is enough for people to mistake her ability¡¯s rank. ¡°That too.¡± She replied. What kind of bullshit was this? So someone with a swordsman Innate ability would learn Novice swordsmanship in minutes? What kind of a broken game was this? ¡°Isn¡¯t it meaningless to learn skills not related to our innate abilities then?¡± A smile came on her face as she had expected this question from me. ¡°No. That is where you are wrong my boy. Questions like these remind me that you are still young.¡± She said as she ruffled my hair. I was a little worried as to how she had started this magic training session with a worried look on her face but looks like I was thinking too much. She was enjoying this. I couldn¡¯t blame her though, when I thought I was powerless, I had kind of distanced myself from her. Almost as if I didn¡¯t want to embarrass her, and this created an invisible wall between us. Although she still tried to show affection in her own way, she didn¡¯t get many chances as we didn¡¯t spend that much time together. That was especially why Lily had been appointed to be my caretaker. What was surprising was that Lily volunteered to do so. She had been taking care of me from the day she came here and she has never complained about it. Lily was someone my mom had brought from outside the sect, you could say she was my adopted sister in a way. She was seven years older than me and we had almost always been together. But finally getting this chance to get close to her son, she was going all out. And I¡¯m here for it. This kind of affection I hadn¡¯t experienced in both of my lives combined. Some memories of my previous life flashed in my mind, and my smiling face almost crumpled, but I didn¡¯t let it get to me. I looked up at my mom and tried to forget about that person, who had dared to call me her son in my previous life. These two people cannot be any more different. Ignoring my inner thoughts, I focused back on the subject. The studies continued. ¡°You see, an Innate ability while being strong is also very limiting. You know my innate ability lets me command ice like it¡¯s another limb, but if I were to meet someone who has an opposing element to me, or something that could easily counter my abilities, then it would mean nothing, no matter how strong my ability was. So it is always better to learn skills outside of your innate ability. To cover all bases. Understanding where you lack and then compensating for that lack will make you a great warrior mage.¡± I nodded in understanding, I was almost contemplating not learning the Novice swordsmanship after this week. I always wanted to be a mage, it was a fantasy of mine in both this life and the past one. ¡°Can we have two or more innate abilities?¡± ¡°It is possible, there are legends about people who could command that kind of power, but it¡¯s just those legends, no one has ever met one in person. At least, I haven¡¯t.¡± Looks like she¡¯ll meet one soon, as I recalled my two locked innate abilities. She then explained the skill and how to use it, and allowed me to learn the scroll¡¯s content before beginning to practice. But it was something that she said at the end that stuck with me. ¡°Anshe, no matter what happens, you have to learn this fire arrow skill before the end of this week. Remember, no matter what!¡± ¡°What?¡± 005 - Invisible Enemies ¡°What?¡± She looked like she wanted to say a lot of things but no words came out of her mouth for a few seconds, before she sighed. ¡°I guess it is as good a time as any to tell you. An, there is a lot I am hiding from you.¡± What? No words came out as I just stared at her. ¡°...¡± My mind went spiraling at the endless possibilities of that statement. Mom quickly noticed this and continued but not before a ball of magic came out of her hand and expanded outwards. I felt a cold breeze when it passed through me and I was once again reminded of my mother¡¯s masterful control over ice. ¡°Listen, what I am about to tell you, you cannot tell anyone. Anyone. Not even Lily.¡± ¡°...okay.¡± I was still a little flabbergasted by all that was happening right now, but I waited for her to continue. ¡°There are people, m-cough¡± Before she continued she suddenly coughed out blood all of a sudden and my mind went blank. ¡°MOM!¡± I quickly moved and caught her, as she struggled to stand but the determination in her eyes was even stronger now. ¡°T-Those bastards!¡± She stabilized herself and continued. ¡°Listen An, there are people, very powerful people after me. After us. After our family. If they found out you had awakened one of the The R-cough¡± Once again, she coughed out blood but this time continued while blood flowed out of her mouth. ¡°Any ability related to us, your parents, if you awaken any of them, they would take you away. So son, promise me!¡± She took hold of my collar, grabbing it tightly, and with tears in her eyes, she roared. ¡°Promise me! No matter what ability you get, you will show the fire magic that I am going to teach you! No matter what! Promise me! I cannot lose anyone else! So promise me!¡± ¡°I promise mom! Now, please stop talking, please, who is doing this to us!?¡± Although I asked, I knew whoever it was wouldn''t allow her to take their name so I stopped her from talking. ¡°I promise mom, I will learn and never tell anyone what kind of ability I get, I promise, so please just lay down!¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. We were in the study room, so I laid her down on the carpet as I watched her pass out of pain and exhaustion in this mere seconds worth of conversation. I just watched my mom lay there, with blood flowing down her dress, tears surrounding her eyes but still holding a slight smile on her face. ¡°Hey System.¡± my voice held no warmth, or emotion. ¡°What happened to her?¡± [Analysis would require physical contact, please make physical contact so that analysis may begin.] I did as I was told and took my mother¡¯s hand in my own little hands. [Analysis underway¡­] [...] [Detected traces of a Knowledge-Binding Soul Curse. If the cursed person tries to reveal the bound knowledge to anyone in any way the curse would destroy their insides and they would die. Just as the host¡¯s mother was about to divulge said information, the curse triggered, but since the content wasn''t deemed that important, it only gave a minor shock to her body. Curse is too strong for the current system to handle. Cannot be removed at the moment.] ¡°When and how can I remove it?¡± [System level needs to be raised. Exactly how much to raise cannot be revealed as Host¡¯s privileges are not enough. Or the person who casted the curse needs to be eliminated.] Damn it. I cannot do any of those things right now. I don¡¯t know how to raise my level, and I also don¡¯t know who casted this curse on my mom. I haven¡¯t felt this angry and powerless in a long while. [The system level can be raised by devouring the origin of living beings. Targeted individuals can also help raise the system level when they rob origins of other beings. A part of those origins can be transferred to the Host.] ¡°By killing them?¡± [Yes.] I thought for a while before asking another question. ¡°You said that having a connection can be beneficial for the target, right?¡± [Correct. But the system would advise against making a connection with the host¡¯s mother.] ¡°Why?¡± a slight trace of anger couldn¡¯t help but be felt from my voice. [The Insatiable system grants ability on the basis of progress made by the target, if the target is already too strong the progress may take time to happen thus not benefiting the host as rapidly.] ¡°I don¡¯t care, you said it would be beneficial right? Even if I don¡¯t get anything from her, as long as I unlock the benefits she would be able to have those as well, right?¡± [Correct.] ¡°Then do it.¡± [Affirmative. Establishing connection.] [Target - Eshreal Frostbarren] Feeling the invisible string going from my body to my mom made me let out a sigh of relief. But I couldn¡¯t be too happy. I just found out I have enemies who are after me and my family for reasons I don¡¯t know. There were too many unknowns around me. This system included. Why did it choose me? What is its purpose? [Host isn¡¯t worthy yet.] [But the system can divulge this¨C The Host wasn¡¯t chosen, just happened to get the system which in turn strengthened the Host¡¯s soul, unlocking memories of your previous life by some unknown variable. Everything just happened by chance.] ¡°What happens when I die?¡± [The system will choose a new host to fulfil its purpose. The system¡¯s mission is of the utmost priority.] ¡°And what is your mission?¡± [Host isn¡¯t worthy yet.] ¡°Figured.¡± I also laid down next to my mom, my mind filled with innumerable thoughts about the future and my next moves. I cannot be passive anymore, I need to get stronger, stronger than all of our enemies. If I cannot even do it with the system, then I should just drop dead right now.